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Are You Prepared for the Upcoming Talent Wars?

You are probably seeing that your business is starting to pick up and that you might want to add staff in the next six to nine months. So does your competitor. And your own work force is the most obvious place for your competitor to look.

Welcome again to the talent wars. Remember what it was like in 1999 when that need for talent was at an all-time high? Its going to happen all over again, and sooner than you think. According to management consultant and leadership expert Scott Love, the companies which prepare by proactively developing a conscious effort to improve leadership performance among managers will be able to keep their staff when recruiters come calling.

Its very rare for an employee to leave a well-led company. Leadership is rare and unusual. Once a star performer finds that type of organization it is nearly impossible to pry them away. Love states that every manager must create his or her own Unique Leadership Proposition, which is a brief description of why workers follow their managers. Todays worker doesnt follow because of the position of authority. He follows because of choice. When people come to work they come for themselves, not you. When you lead, you must consider why they benefit on a personal level. Love believes that managers must articulate the long term vision of their organization and show their employees how each one of them fits into the equation. People want to have a sense of purpose at work. They want to know that their lives matter.

Love recommends that companies review how much they spent in developing their managers leadership skills last quarter and triple it over the next quarter. Success only happens by deliberate effort, not random chance. You win because you intentionally set out to do it. If you believe that your staff will stick around a poorly-led team, then you will find yourself in a state of disbelief when your company becomes prime poaching ground.